I remember when they were trying to put enormous flywheels in the floor of public buses, which would be the source of motive power. Electromagnets under the ground at each stop were to recharge the spin of the flywheel. (Short version.) There was much concern expressed about the safety of an enormous piece of steel under the floorboards spinning at thousands of RPMs, and what could happen to the passengers in the event of a hardware failure or accident. I seem to remember the were going to address the problem with some sort of graphite flywheel that would basically explode into a giant ball of harmless thread in the event the flywheel failed for any reason. Spinning wheel, WHOOMPF, flywheel chamber full of graphite thread. Now... hear me out here... if the throwing arm in the SpinLaunch design is DESIGNED to explode into a cloud of graphite threads immediately upon release of the projectile.... does that burn off the energy left in the system after the projectile exits the building? Could that be a design feature to address some of the issues left behind once the launch happens? Ok, yeah, it's a stupid thought experiment. But then so is SpinLaunch and it EXISTS. I'd like to at least think someone in one of those rooms has wondered what happens to the arm once it releases...? Someone? Anyone...? Hello? Is this thing on...?
Lol yeah the gyrobus and its lesser-known younger brother, the General Electric Battle Top. Here's the problem: GE's clever idea was to dissipate 1.5 tons spinning at 10,000 RPM through explosive disintegration. That's 373 kJ of bad news. A couple pounds of TNT is 4200 kJ worth of bad news so converting your spinning war top of doom into explosive force, without conversion, is a quarter stick of dynamite. More or less. Work with me here. Spinlaunch, on the other hand, is at about 800,000 kJ assuming the arm that's flinging it has no mass. Assume we're just talking about the counterbalance - we get to dissipate the energy of one of these in our hypercentrifuge every time we fire it up. Again, assuming unicorns and rainbows, massless masses, perfect conversion, la la la la la. They'll want to move the office methinks.
Funny, I didn't even know about the GyroBus! The one I was thinking of was in the 2000's, and I can't find a link to it any more. I think the City of Seattle was looking into them, when I was with the Pioneer Square Community Association. Seems like we saw a presentation on this possible technology being used in Seattle transit buses. Google told me about this older Williams Racing project which used a flywheel as a power-assist in traditional ICE-powered vehicles, too:
On paper? It would. From conservation of (angular) momentum, it'd be a cloud of slower-moving (spinning) particles colliding with the walls of the chamber. From conservation of energy, it'd dissipate in a plethora of ways, but IMO mostly increase in temperature. Depending on the amount of energy to dissipate, if it were made from carbon like in your example, you might end up with friction lightning creating stuff like buckyballs, but mostly chain (=C=C=C=) or cyclic (same, but connect beginning with end) allotropes. Now, if you're asking if this is at all practical or doable...Now... hear me out here... if the throwing arm in the SpinLaunch design is DESIGNED to explode into a cloud of graphite threads immediately upon release of the projectile.... does that burn off the energy left in the system after the projectile exits the building? Could that be a design feature to address some of the issues left behind once the launch happens?
We'll use Tosser to accelerate carbon and make our own nanotubes, dammit! I even know how to get all the carbon we'd need for free: adopt legions of christian children, convince them to act naughty, collect the coal from their stockings. Use said legions as minions. We may be past Bond, but I can still turn it into Johnny English.
Just got off the phone with marketing, here are our two strongest slogan options: JAMES Dissociate." or MOLECULAR Bond." I think maybe the second, the first one maybe makes it sound like our company is destructive or bad."The name's Dissociate...
"It's Bond...
Yup, basically the same company. Watching that gud ol' Texasboi talk a lil' shit brought a tear to my smiling eye. It's unironically called "Not a Flamethrower" and is a piss-poor flamethrower. Closer to a butane torch, really. It feels really bad to churn out all this satirical content, only to be vastly, repeatedly outdone by Master Musk. But I'm busy. Tomorrow I am releasing my self-driving car software update and Donald Trump's healthcare plan.